Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-16

mas loved needs not to be told that to the
eve of true affection its object has no de-
fects
My father learned my secret-but
knew it not / had a lifelong secret after
ward which he never learned. He came
to ne one morning, smiled and said:
MY SOD, do you want to go to Cuban
{" eagerly answered in the affirmative ;
for it had been cherished but hitherto
orbidden passion with me to travel.
lone of my vessels sails tomorrow, he
said, and you may CO.
This short interval allowed me no time
to bid farewell to my shepherdess. who
was fifty miles distant, nor even to inform
her of my departure, but | said aloud !:
I'll soon be back and many other conso-
lstions | whispered to my heart the next
day while bounding over the Atlantic.
"The ship arrived in good time at Hav-
ana. discharged her cargo, reloaded and
sailed for-Calcutta l was prisoner on
my fathers ship, and for five long years
was kept from home-as if all the waters of
the ocean could wash out my love.
L escaped at length from the prison
ship while lying at Rio and took passage
in French bark for the Granddaughter.
No circumnavigation of the globe was ever
SO long as that voyage. Istrainei my eyes
knew was thousands of miles off, and
every night l dreamed of mountain rivu-
lets, snowy fiocks and Ina.
" Arriving at last at Seville, / fastened
over the Nevada and sought the sunny dell
where my affections had long nestled,
and there found that the idol of
my heart was the wife Of an An
dalusian shepherd She had been
told that l had deserted her, and after
ward that l was dead. did not weep,
for my heart was turned to stone. My
father said /, shall never know of his
victory! l did not 60 to see him it
was wicked, l know, but, burning with the
spirit of revenge, | turned again to the sea
and never saw him more. | am faint, Cap
tain, and cannot prolong my task. In six
months I was master of fast sailing YES
sel-you have seen that vessel, Captain, but
never in port, and | have often seen you,
and knew your name twenty years ago.
But no matter about that. My father con-
tinued to freight his ships and send them
to different parts of the world-but he
never knew that / superintendent q large
part of his business, and that many of his
cargoes found sale in ports to which they
had never been consigned. His agents
sometimes failed to report
" have said enough, Captain. Before
to-morrow's sun sets | shall be in the cav
ems of the deep. But have forgiven him
and do not complain. | have a for
tune in the Bank of England, but with it is
deposited will, and the orphan son of Ina
is my heir You have been kind to me,
Captain, and in token of my gratitude beg
you 70 accept my watch and cutlass and
this paper, which you will carefully pre-
serve" So saying, he held out folded
scrap of paper, which my grandfather put
into his pocket.
Morning dawned, but the strangers eyes
did not open upon it-they were closed
forever. In the afternoon the Burial
Service at Sea-" that most solemn of sea
scenes, was performed, and the shrouded
body of the pirate, with gentle plunge,
broke the CLASSY surface of the ocean and
sank swiftly to the mysterious depths.
1t was many hours afterward that my
grandfather bethought himself of the
paper in his pocket. He opened it and
read as follows:
CAPT. LANE: On the eastern point of Nan
tucket, at high-water mark, is a tall sharp
cliff, A quarter league due west from that
cliff Is a large, round stone, and near the
stone thorn-bush. That bush grows in a very
rich soil.
The duties of his station kept my grand
father long time abroad, and when he
was III boston ABOUT TWO years afterWard,
and having few days of leisure, he was
thinking about acting upon the hint of the
enigmatical paper. when his eye happened
to fall on the following paragraph in the
old Boston Messenger: D..
WONDERFUL DIsCovERY.-As John Rogers was
breaking q piece of pasture ground on the east
shore of Nantucket about month ago his plow-
share turned up a stout thornbush, sticking to
the roots of which Mr.. Rogers spied several
Spanish dollars. Upon this he went to digging
Justify, and did not give up till he had hauled
out coins chiefly Spanish doublooDs, of more
than S23, 900 value. No doubt it was buried by
Captain Kidd or some OF his pirate kin.
No doubt" thought my grandfather, as
he put down the paper with a slight nerv-
BUSINESS. In a week he was again facing
the storms of the ocean, enriching his EN-
ployers by his skill and toll, till infrmities
drove him high and dry on the shore. There,
in due time, he died of old age, leaving lit
tie to his family except the pirates cut
lass, which three generations of boys have
used in their juvenile trainings" and
which, rusted and biunted, may now be
seen in the Office of his great grandson, a
lawyer of New York.